Since birth, River has had a blocked tear duct in his right eye. This means the eye wouldn't tear like normal, it would just get all gunked up instead. Every time we'd go outside (in allergen infested Florida) it would ooze yellow stuff. So gross! He was always rubbing his eye so it was constantly red and swollen. People often asked if he was sick or had pink eye. Some mornings he'd wake up with his eye completely crusted shut and we'd have to use our fingers to pry it open! Poor little guy. So the eye dr finally said the only option would be surgery since he didn't grow out of it by age 1. We decided it was the right thing to do since he was on finials suffering and uncomfortable.

On June 5th he had the surgery and it was the best decision we could have made. The procedure was done at a surgery center and the anesthesiologist was from Arnold Palmer Hospital, which definitely have us peace of mind. The surgery was a balloon catheter dilation (DCP). In DCP, a balloon is inserted through an opening in the corner of the eye and into the tear duct, then inflated with a sterile solution to expand the tear duct. The balloon is then deflated and removed. Our biggest concern wasn't the procedure, as we had faith in the doctor. We were more worried about the whole fasting thing before the operation. Riv tends to have a royal meltdown when he's hungry, especially in the morning since it's so long between meals. Luckily, the surgery was in the morning and all the commotion kept him pretty happy and occupied. While waiting his turn for surgery he started to get a bit fussy so we walked him up and down the hall, which bought us a little more time.

Once it was his turn the procedure took about 30 min. They reversed the anesthesia and we were able to go be with him in recovery. He had a rough time coming out of the anesthesia, which is apparently common. He fought and kicked and screamed for about a half hour. G walked him up and down the hallway again and he eventually calmed down and fell asleep in his arms. When we got him home, he was still tipsy from the anesthesia. And was walking around like a little drunk person. Too funny!Click here to see a video of woozy River at home after surgery

It's been a few weeks and I'm happy to say his eye is better than ever! No crusting or oozing. The surgery worked! So glad we went through with it! :-D

So here we are at 19 months already. River and Riley are still moving along developmentally at their adjusted age, which is now 16 months. They are getting more fun and more challenging with each passing month. They've gone from taking a few steps to practically running! They spend their days exploring the house and would much rather play with household items than their toys. One of their favorite things to do is stand on their Learning Tower and help Mommy prep food. (I'll be doing a separate post on that!). So I spend a lot of time with them working on practical life skills (putting on sunglasses, washing toys, prepping good, cleaning etc). And they just love doing activities like that. Especially Riley. She wants to do everything the adults do, particularly Mommy.

Washing their animal figurines

Making pumpkin muffins in a mug

This month has brought a language boom for the dynamic duo. For River it has been with understand and Riley it has been with signing and speaking. Riv is a bit behind his sister in the language department, but we're not too worried about it. (We all know women talk more anyway! LOL). He says Mama, Dada, Baba all the time. He knows G and I are Dada and Mama but he also uses it for different reasons- such as Mama when he wants something in general and Dada when he points to objects and wants to know what it is. We have noticed he calls his cup and blanket baba, which I recently connected the dots that both items start with a B (Blanket and his <water>Bottle). So that's a step in the right direction! They are both still signing "more" "eat" "all done" and Riley also still signs "help" and "please" but has also added "potty" "book" "hat" and "bird." When it comes to speaking this girl is amazing us with new words all the time! She's up to about 25 words! Mind you, she's not making sentences or anything, but she can repeat the words we say and is JUST now starting to point to things and say things on her own. The words she added to her vocabulary this month are: water (wawa), hello, hi, owl, kick, cow, yes, potty, bow & okay. She also babbles and talks with her hands (hmmm that sounds a lot like Mommy ha!). So needless to say, we are pretty impressed with her. They both are understanding SO much though. We've always talked to them in complete sentences and explain everything we do around the house and apparently it's paying off! They totally surprised me recently when I asked them to throw something away in the garbage and they each individually walked over to the laundry room, lifted the garbage can lid and threw it out! They really do pay attention!

Ever since being in swimming lessons the twins have been SO comfortable with the water. They LOVE going to the pool and swimming underwater between us. So we try to make it a point to go to the pool, or some other water activity, at least once each weekend. Some close friends of ours were visiting from Tallahassee this month and we got to visit with them at their hotel pool! It was a wade-in pool so the kids could just walk right in. Funny thing was, they would have kept right on going if we didn't stop them! They were so comfortable being in the water, they walked all the way in until the water was up to their necks! Such a brave little pair. :-)

This month we had a visit from their Aunt Kim (G's sister). She spent a long weekend with us and got to have some quality time with the twins. It was great seeing her and she was a huge help with keeping the twins occupied!

Other than that, not much else to report. Riley is still a book worm (although River really loves books as well!). You can frequently find her in the playroom surrounded by as many books as she can possibly pull down!

For weeks we've been deliberating what to do with River's hair. We LOVE his beautiful curls and the fact that it's got some length to it fits with our hippie-dippy lifestyle (and his hippie-dippy name). But it was starting to look straggly and, at times, like we found him on the street. We originally wanted to have his first haircut be at Magic Kingdom (since we've become the Disney family we never imagined now that G is an official "cast member" with the company's IT department). However, we envisioned it happening in the Fall when the weather is a little more tolerable. But since Riv was looking like the Shaggy Dog we realized it was time for a trim and there was NO WAY we were parking, walking and taking a ferry into Magic Kingdom in blazing 5,000 degree temps so we decided to find an alternative.

In comes "Pigtails and Crewcuts," a salon that caters to little people (and no I don't mean Peter Dinklage). I made sure to get there when it opened and as luck would have it we were their first customers of the day! This wound up being the first time going anywhere with them and not using a stroller (yeah I won't be doing THAT again!). I got to choose which chair River would sit in- we had a choice between a fire truck, airplane and train. The airplane struck me as the cutest so I went with that. There were plenty of fun toys around so Riley kept herself entertained throughout the haircut, although she spent most of the time staring at River with a puzzled look on her face as if to say, "what are you doing to my brother?" and "why don't I get to do it too?".

I give the hairdresser a lot of credit. River was moving his head all over the place but she didn't miss a beat. I guess they are used to a moving target since they cater to toddlers and kids. But Riv was really great the whole time! Didn't fuss once! The whole process went smoothly, however once he was done and I was checking out the dynamic duo went running down the hall and into the break room (hence why I said I wouldn't go anywhere without a stroller for a while!). But all-in-all it was a fantastic experience and I will definitely be going back for future haircuts!